


Luminous Beings are we

by Tulak_Hord



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Extremely Evil Original Character, Force Bonds, Gen, Grandmaster Fae Coven, Jedi Master "This is mine now" Fay, Leaving the Jedi Order (Star Wars), Little Yoda is adorable, Little Yoda is brought to the Temple, Manipulative Sith Lords, Mother-Son Relationship, Politics of Doctrine, Sith Shenanigans (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27162865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tulak_Hord/pseuds/Tulak_Hord
Summary: Yoda is brought to the Jedi Temple as an infant. Matters proceed a little differently.
Relationships: Fay/Valenthyne Farfalla, The Force & Yoda (Star Wars), Yoda & Jedi Character(s)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Luminous Beings are we

**Luminous Beings are we**

It was an easy thing to reflect, she decided, here in this hallowed place where the Force sang of history and memory. The simplest of matters, despite the several pairs of scrutinising eyes of the Jedi High Council and the near-oppressive light that pervaded her being.

Scrutiny was certainly nothing new to her, as she reflected. How often had she stood before variations of this council, to be chastised for matters of _‘flouting’_ the new code? How often had two generations of the same sanctimonious fools thought to chide her for their own follies, older than all present though she was?

And yet, within, she did not feel so old, hardly the two hundred and fifty years she was. She felt still like a new Knight of twenty-one, as she appeared outwardly- and there was yet a long way ahead of her. One, that she decided, she would prefer to spend alongside this child.

This wonderful _star,_ eternal and perennial within the Force. She had never seen a soul so beautiful. _Yoda,_ he was called- a name fitting enough for the mysteries that surrounded him and would do so till his ending days. If she clutched the small, soft bundle she held closer to her heart, it was not outwardly visible.

“So, it appears settled, then.” said the new Jedi Grandmaster, Fae Coven. “His Midichlorian count is higher than all who have served this Order in our records, including even your own exceptional power, Master Fay.”

The Jenet’s ratlike whiskers twitched as Fay realised she hadn’t been paying attention. She was presently occupied with presenting one of her fingers, white as snow, to a certain child who seemed impatient to nibble at it. _Heavens,_ she realised, biting back a pained gasp, the boy certainly had sharp teeth. Her hands, once unadorned with marks and callouses, as she had forsworn the Lightsaber, were now a land of tiny red marks that she did not mind at all.

“Ah… yes, Master Coven, although I should not think it unexpected. Have I not said he is a gift from the Force?” she challenged, as the sceptic was proven incorrect. _As always._

 _“That remains to be seen.”_ said a cold, clear voice, and Fay employed her impeccable restraint to steer clear of a scowl. “The Force is not so simple as to be swayed by the presence of mere microorganisms. A midichlorian count is merely a representation of _potential_ within the Force, potential which must be realised into power by the correct application of training. I believe you, of all, would know this better than most.”

With some reluctance, she turned to the speaker. Her soft black irises were met by a cold, pupil-shorn white void and a sinister-seeming red prosthetic, set upon aquiline features with a sharp nose and cheekbones so high that the face appeared gaunt.

“So you agree that he must be trained, Master Neldorath? Am I to assume you have changed your stance? If I recall correctly, you refused me a vessel when I asked for one so that I could bring him here.”

Amanar Neldorath, Master of the Order, met her gaze not with the irate frown that would have rewarded her efforts, but with the same impassive and impossibly _calculating_ expression that she had grown to hate the most.

“I find myself hard-pressed to believe one such as you after the Farfalla debacle. That aside, I have reconsidered, if only for fear of what it shall become if not trained in the Jedi ways.”

‘ _It’? How dare that nasty, presumptuous-_

“ _He_ has a name, Master Neldorath, and it is Yoda.” she said defiantly. The Arkanian Master only leant back in his seat at that, four-fingered claws pressed together in contemplation.

“Such… disputes aside, Amanar is correct. The boy must be trained, and by the best we have. In the best way we can. Do you thusly consent to give up his care to the crèche?” asked Master Coven imperiously. Fay only clutched Yoda tighter.

“I found him. He’s an orphan- he… you can’t just expect me to let him _go?”_ she said, in slight disbelief. The _nerve_ of some people, looking to take this boy… _her_ boy… from her on account of her unusual nature?

“Still attached, as ever.” said the Kel Dor Master Baradun, shaking his head. Though it was not said unkindly, Fay chose to ignore the curmudgeonly Baran Do sage’s chastisement. She turned instead to Master Coven, who had lived almost as long as she; they were old friends.

“You fought in the Sith Wars, as did I. None of us- not even Master Neldorath- were present to see those days save you and I. You know this- you were but an infant then, and I a young Padawan, as besotted with Valenthyne Farfalla as he was with me. The bonds that held us were strong- how… how can you blame me if I cannot simply… _cast_ them aside?” she pleaded.

The Jenet’s eyes nearly clouded with sympathy, but as Jedi Grandmaster, she would say nothing before the Council.

“The Sith are dead and gone, Fay. It is time for us to change as the Republic has, and for the better. Attachment shall only lead us down a dark path. Let him _go,_ old friend.” she implored.

Fay looked uncertainly at the little green infant still cuddled in her arms, his beautiful gold-green eyes shadowed with a lack of understanding.

“Ma...ma…” he whispered, and she sent a wave of soothing energy within the Force, which he happily curled his spirit around. He scratched at her arm with the beginnings of a claw, and her face softened into a motherly smile (council be damned) and once again presented her finger. The infant sucked it this time, thankfully not biting, and her heart, already so filled with love, began overflowing.

<<Perhaps this could all be explained if the circumstances of the child’s finding and induction were to be revealed.>> said the Wookiee Master Grakkchawaa in a low growl, prompting various nods from the Council. Master Coven pursed her lips together, and looked pointedly at Fay.

“It is possible that the history of great masters of his species such as Vandar Tokare and Oteg the Wise may be illuminated by whatever light you have to shed.” she said with an air of command, drawing a number of approving ‘ah’s from the councillors- all save the Master of the Order.

Neldorath was silent, gazing at her with the two mismatched, piercing monstrosities that were his eyes.

“I… I am sworn to secrecy, to protect what little of their kind remains. The mother died in childbirth, the father of grief… and the rest, hunted down for their strength by the Sith…”

“But the Jedi are allies to his people.” Master Baradun was pleaded. “Surely they can see that?”

For all the Kel Dor’s famed compassion, he did not truly understand. Of that, Fay was certain, especially after the Jedi had demeaned themselves to mere _servants_ of the Republic and bound themselves to its politics. And, after all, there were some people in the Order she would never let near her little boy, she thought, as she looked at the Arkanian beside him.

“I’m sorry, Master Baradun, but I swore to secrecy, and I am never one to betray my vows.” she said firmly. The Kel Dor gave her one last pleading look, but she turned away. She could not be blamed, after all, if she did indeed stroke one of Yoda’s precious little pointed ears as she made the pronouncement.

“It seems, Master Fay, that you have only further cemented our decision.” said Grandmaster Coven authoritatively, even as the Council around her leaned forward in their seats (save Neldorath, of course).

“What is this… decision, if I may ask, and why have I not been privy to it?”

“Perhaps Master Neldorath will be willing to tell you, as it is after all his wisdom we have chosen to adhere to.” she said.

“But…” Fay let the words die on her throat, knowing how Fae Coven could be once possessed by her loyalty to the code. And by the Force, there had never been a greater code-spouting moron with a stick up his arse than Amanar Neldorath.

She steadily calmed her breaths, fully prepared to fall on her knees and _beg_. She could not allow these… _Jedi…_ to train her little boy into a grumpy, static dogmatist as they all were. She wouldn’t allow them to stifle him where he could be so much _more…_ she needed him, as he needed her. As a child needs its mother vice versa.

“Master Fay.” said the cold voice of the Arkanian Master, “the obvious power of this boy… _Yoda,_ as you call him… it cannot and shall not be underestimated. What gifts I have in the Unifying Force have assured me that he shall be a truly legendary Jedi, but with only the proper training. And as such, we feel you are incapable of providing it to the correct extent.”

_No. NO._

“Oh, I’m truly _sorry,_ Master Neldorath, but you can’t just take him away. For forty years, I have been the only mother he has ever known. I’ve fed him, raised him, put him to sleep- and I shall continue to do so, for he needs a mother’s attention. You can’t expect me to simply throw him into the crèche as with the rest.”

An ice-cold wave buffeted her within the Force, and she recognised it as Neldorath’s work. The Arkanian’s presence was like an ordered blizzard, ruthless and efficient, and she felt its power in full- but she was a greater Master of the Force than he.

 _“You’ll help mama, won’t you?”_ she implored little Yoda, who shone fiercely bright in response. And melding her own formidable strength with his, she cast Neldorath back within his form, the backlash forcing all other councillors to retreat from their intrusions.

The probing tendrils of the Force retreated, and the Council Chamber shone only with radiance that belonged to herself and Yoda.

“You will _not”-_ and here she raised her voice- “attempt to _violate_ my son!”

A golden lightsaber sprang up in front of her, one she recognised as Master Coven’s. The Jenet was rubbing her rodent’s eyes with a fervour of confusion, unable to understand what had come upon her, guarding as if against an invisible threat. The councillors sat quaking, clutching their heads- and then felt a _lance,_ ice-sharp, directed not at her- but at Yoda.

“No- stop this at once, whoever it is!” she commanded, using he presence to shield him, clutching the baby tightly as she withstood this assault meant for him. A few terrible, quivering moments, and she turned around to what she knew was the source.

Amanar Neldorath’s organic eye was alight with _hatred._ His milky, blind-seeming white eye had a strange ill-humour to it, the shadows of the chamber coruscating around the Arkanian Master- leaving the distinct impression of a fey yellow light.

“You wonder why I alone am not fazed.” he said, cutting through whatever she might have said with a perfect deduction. “It is because I cannot afford to be, when I have already seen enough. Your bond with this child is dangerous, and entirely unbefitting of a Jedi.”

With her prodigious powers of perception, she felt the intent within the rest of the Jedi- and all here had nothing but the utmost respect for Neldorath, all bearing down upon her like twelve bloodied hammers.

“Why don’t you see in him what I see in him?” she asked all present. “Fae- does this mean nothing to you? You know I would not be wrong. Why is it that you wish to take him away from the only family he has? What have I done?”

Fae Coven looked uncertainly at her fellow councillors and at her oldest friend, indecision unlike that which should plague any Grandmaster of the Jedi coursing through her. And yet- this boy- she could nto lie if she said she too was intrigued.

Neldorath’s silver-white cascade of hair blew in the wind, as he fixed her with a stern glance. And within that, she knew him to be right.

“How I regard you personally notwithstanding, _Master_ Fay- this is a matter of the Jedi Council, and the Jedi Order as a whole. And as a Jedi, I would be disinclined to trust your ability to let go of him if you were to raise him, as evidenced by the death of Valenthyne Farfalla.”

 _There._ She had struck the death-blow. The pounding of the blood in her ears owing to the lifting of the shadowy veil that had wrapped her in the Force subsided, and she looked again to Neldorath, who seemed to have leaned forward.

_No. She could not indulge her conspiracy theories now- that would be like Fay, and she was the Grandmaster. She could not be like Fay._

“You have not in the past disputed that it was your tryst with Farfalla that prompted attachment between yourself and the Jedi Lord. It may not have considered a heresy then, but is now. His wish to prove himself and the idea that he could provide an alternative to the Jedi Order for you led to his end against the Sith Lord Darth Bane.”

* * *

_She betrayed me._

_My oldest friend betrayed me- why?_

Whatever the iteration of the question, Fay could not answer it.

“You _know_ that is not true!” she told the council at large. Fae- _no,_ Grandmaster Coven looked empathetic but resolute. The other councillors merely nodded their heads, while Grakkchawaa was the only one to offer her an iota of sympathy owing to his Wookiee roots.

“Valenthyne died because Jedi such as _you_ told me to push him away! _Your predecessors_ suggested that our love was a danger when it indeed was not, and the confounded idiot that he was, he thought he had not proved himself enough! And so he died to Darth Bane, a Sith Lord whose death we never have confirmed, and now the best hope we have of ending his line is one you propose to indoctrinate to your dogma-“

“DARTH BANE IS DEAD, HIS APPRENTICE WITH HIM!” roared Grandmaster Coven powerfully, drowning out her soft voice. “Having become a lunatic, he was killed on his home planet. The Sith are gone forever, and we are merely trying to prevent another danger from supplanting them! If you were to be given the boy, that is what your attachment could lead to, Master Fay!”

She took deep, calming breaths, working herself to the end of her patience to stop her rage. She was under no illusions and knew well that she had a great store of wrath- and how tempting it had been to raise her arms and choke these fools into submission- but Yoda was here.

And she would never have her little boy see such a spectacle. She loved him more than to allow herself that.

“When will the lesson be learned?” was all she asked. _“When will the lesson be learned?_ The ‘Darth Bane’ you killed was nobody but Caleb, a local healer whom I knew! Two Sith Lords are still at large, and may have rebuilt their order! And here I come, with a gift from the Force who can stop them-“

 _“ENOUGH.”_ rang the terrible voice of Master Neldorath- and she noticed that it was in perfect time.

“Let us cease this pointless bickering and examine what we _know._ We know that Master Fay has not denied being at one point involved with and attached to the departed Jedi Lord Valenthyne Farfalla, thus proving her… _incompatibility…_ with the new Code. She has brought us a tremendously powerful Force-sensitive whom we can either train as a great Jedi or risk dooming to the Dark Side. And finally, we know that she has committed yet another act of heresy in developing a Force bond with this infant, and a terribly strong one at that.”

_How could he- how did he know?_

“Your thoughts betray you.” the Arkanian continued on. “You have openly referred to this _creature_ as your foster-son, a bond forbidden for one of us. And despite all your years, you are still green in your experience while I am a Master. Do you think so lowly of the Council to believe you could hide the obvious?”

 _‘Yes, I do indeed 'think so lowly’ of you all. Had the Council been perceptive at all, you would not be sitting here’_ she thought viciously, knowing Neldorath would sense it. The Master of the Order’s lip curled, but he said nothing.

“If I may be excused, I did not indeed sense a bond. The power of the Force within you both is very great, and I felt my sight blinded.” said Master Hoglik, the newest elect to the Council. Fay looked to the Dathomirian Zabrak with surprise, and a hint of wariness.

Slightly unnerved, Hoglik continued. “I- I do not mean to imply anything, and shall admit that Master Neldorath is a far greater Jedi than I am, but this child’s shielding is truly extremely strong. Did you teach him that, Master Fay?” he asked, with not a little hint of awe.

“I merely told him that he needed to be quiet- and there he was. _Quiet._ Do you not see? Master Neldorath attempted to use a _mind probe_ on my little boy, just to take him from my hands for whatever ulterior motives he has. How could you be so blind?”

“Is that an accusation I hear? A disparagement of my century’s service to the Jedi Order, and a dishonour to myself as an Arkanian? For I most certainly believe, Master Fay, that it was in poor taste.” scoffed Neldorath like the snob he was.

“You will stop this.” came Fae Coven’s imperious command. “Master Neldorath, while you may be a famed seeker of truth, you have no right to treat a colleague in the manner you have.”

Yoda gave a little burble, and Fay turned back to him, gently stroking his ear.

_Don’t worry. You’re better than him. You will correct his mistakes, and I will be forever proud, my son._

The infant laughed happily, and Fay rocked him against her side, gently lulling him to sleep.

“But, Master Fay, I find that there is a simple way to refute this statement. If what Amanar says is wrong, why don’t you simply show us? Let _us_ witness for ourselves. A mind probe won’t be necessary.”

_You wish to see the bond between mother and son? So be it._

Her fellow Jedi were compassionate beings. They would surely see the strength of the bond and decide not to sever it.

“My dear little star, they wish to see our bond. Why don’t you show them how brightly you shine in the Force? As always, I’ll be with you.” she whispered softly. Yoda reached for her golden tresses with his little claws, and she allowed him to yank on them in whatever little way he wished.

The Force _exploded._

They were alight with the power of the Light Side, a golden thread uniting Mother and Foster-son. Luminous beings they were, not crude matter.

“Oh, _Force…_ I’ve never seen anything like it…” said Fae Coven herself, marvelling at the splendour.

_“Do you not see the truth? It must be severed!”_

And the blizzard came again. Shadows overtook radiance. As light rose, darkness rose to meet it. Amanar Neldorath had risen at last, his cowled cloak whipping and billowing about him, shards of metaphysical ice impaling all who dared marvel at the sight of this child.

“While I appreciate your concern, Master Neldorath, it just feels… _wrong…”_ Master Coven said faintly, but Neldorath held command of the air in the room.

“AND SO THE CODE FALLS! AND SO, BY YOUR WEAKNESS, YOU DESTROY WHAT WE HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO BUILD!” he thundered, and Fay was struck dumb by the audacity of it all.

The Dark Side flowed through Neldorath and it did so freely. The Arkanian calmed, and the shadows retreated- but the reckoning was still to be had.

“My friends.” he said, “For the past year I have been slowly dying. I fear my tenure as Master of this Order is nearly at an end. Let not my service be in vain. My gift of foresight tells me that this boy will destroy us if he does not become part of us. And do we- do _you-_ trust _that fickle Spirit of the Force-“_ he pointed at Fay as if she were an abomination- “to see this done? If so, I have nothing to say. But if you are Jedi, you will do what you must.”

Turning then to Master Coven, he whispered- “Do not abandon him, Master Coven. Do not abandon _your padawan.”_

In the face of this grand rhetoric, this final proclamation of one of the legendary masters, the Council succumbed. They had no other choice, for they were Jedi.

“So be it. The bond will be severed.”

_No, no…_

Fay might have screamed. She did not know. At the end of it, her sight was blurred, and she only saw Yoda’s face- the tiny, little green face that was the Order’s future, and knew it would leave her.

“Can you not see? He’s still an orphaned child! Do- do you mean to take the only mother he’s ever had away from him?” she sobbed.

Master Coven was imperious, as ever, but not unkind. Master Neldorath stood vindicated and ruthless.

“Master Baradun.” the Grandmaster commanded. “You are known for your compassion. It would be best if you sever the bond. The child will trust you.”

_So be it._

The end was near. “I’m truly sorry, Fay.” he whispered, but she only hugged Yoda in response, hoping to offer whatever comfort she could to this dear child as a parting reminder.

The next thing Fay saw, there was a squirming Kel Dor writhing pitifully on the floor, slowly poisoned by oxygen. His antiox mask and fluid goggle shad been ripped from his face by the motion of a tiny, green hand.

Yoda shone, impossibly powerful as ever, little face contorted in an expression of fierce concentration he never should have acquired at this age. _“Run, Mama, Run.”_

Had it not happened, she would have surely given him up. She by no means had the impossible strength of the likes of Revan to be able to stand between the Jedi Order and yet another initiate- and she herself lacked the resolve to forestall the Jedi, who were her only family.

But her foster-son had implored her so, and she could never refuse him.

She gathered all her might in the Force and let loose a tide of devastating power. The Jedi Councillors were blasted back, transparisteel windows cracking.

Grandmaster Coven should have captured her, but she didn’t. A moment of hesitation for her friend’s sake ensured that she was slammed against the ceiling by their combined strength, held there and not dropped until they were a good ways away.

Amanar Neldorath, however, was relentless.

With a hellish, shadowy screech that utterly terrified Yoda and Fay both, he was upon them, dark strength belying his age. A lightsaber of cold, pale green cut through the air, singeing Fay’s hair and leaving the hem of her cloak in tatters.

Fay ran as if her life depended upon it- but it was not enough. _Neldorath was gaining._

 _Impossibly skilled, terrifyingly powerful._ His mastery of battle was beyond her in every way- but for the child in her arms, she felt as if she could do anything.

Temple Guards barred the way up front. She pulled all thoughts of capturing her from their minds, forcing them to unconsciousness. Nearly at the window, she braced to jump…

_Argh!_

_Blood. Only blood._ She staggered and turned, seeing that Neldorath had impaled her in the back with a shard of plasteel he had wrenched out through the Force.

_Blood was everywhere…_

With only one option left, she gathered her fury. Every ounce of anger against the Sith, who had killed so many; against the Jedi, who had chosen to bind themselves to the politics of the Republic instead of healing the few that remained.

Anger at Farfalla for being a besotted dolt- anger at Neldorath for what he’d threatened to do to her son.

Through her clawed palm, the darkness burst. A wave of dark, terrible power, and Neldorath was cast back.

And yet, through the darkness, there was light. There was a beacon that held her to who she was and what she represented. Planting a kiss on that very beacon’s forehead, she could only say- “What would I ever do without you, my dear son.”

A palm was placed on her wound, still profusely bleeding- and it stopped. The wound was by no means shut- but the blood had ceased, and the pain along with it. It would heal in time.

The maddening traffic of Coruscant swam below. With no options left, she hugged her quarry tight and blasted the window apart, taking a leap of faith.

* * *

The Sith Master Darth Venge had, for the first time in his life, _failed._

Unclasping the false prosthetic from a milky, white eye, the Arkanian gazed out at the cold of the Night.

This… _creature…_ would be the end of them all. He had _failed._ He had wanted, _needed_ for it to become a Jedi- to be blinded by the philosophies of the Ruusan Reformation and fall to the Sith Order of Darth Bane.

How tempting it had been to claim Yoda for the Sith- but the damnable troll would grow to be powerful, and would end the Cycle of the Rule of Two. That could not be.

As a Jedi, his powers could have been curtailed. Restrained, bound by philosophy. And now- _Force,_ that damnable Fay had even known the truth about Darth Bane.

Now, Yoda would rise. Where Fay was flawed, he would be the pinnacle of balance. Where she was indecisive, he would be sure as the lightning Venge shot so gleefully from his own fingers.

They were doomed.

When he had said that he was dying, it had been no lie. His use of the Dark Side to hide himself from his ‘colleagues’ had rotted away his vitality. He had thus at least hoped to bring the shadowy charade of Jedi Master Amanar Neldorath to a fitting end.

Foiled again, as was the fate of the Sith.

He knew precisely what would happen. Fay was too clever to be found by a Jedi, and his own apprentice, Darth Damnosus, had not yet mastered deception to the same degree as he. Whether he wished it or not, Yoda would survive, and grow.

Venge would himself return to his frigid homeworld of Arkania to ostensibly live out the rest of his days. He knew that Lord Damnosus would be waiting for him there, and that they would duel, continuing the cycle of the Rule of Two.

Though he would indeed offer a terrible fight, he would lose, and he knew it. Age only allowed so much. Aware as he was of his order’s ultimate defeat, the Sith Master found himself at an odd sort of peace with his imminent death.

**Author's Note:**

> **DRAMATIS PERSONAE**
> 
> **Grandmaster Fae Coven** \- Yoda's predecessor as the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. She masterminded the Ruusan Reformations and the changes to the Jedi Code. A Jenet (Ratcat alien)- From the Darth Bane trilogy
> 
>  **Master Fay** \- Functionally Immortal Spirit of the Force with Sephi Blood. Space elf. - Numerous Sources
> 
>  **Valenthyne Farfalla** \- A half-Bothan Jedi Lord who was quite the dashing fellow in his day. In the opinion of some, he was as handsome as he was stupid- From the Darth Bane trilogy
> 
> **Master Amanar Neldorath/Darth Venge [OC]** \- An Arkanian trained as a Jedi but retrained later as a Sith, he returned while masking himself and earned great renown. The fact is, I have a higher opinion of Yoda and the Jedi than most and cannot believe some of their more ill-advised decisions, so I had them manipulated by a Sith all along. Also, Arkanians are some of the worst people in the EU. Feel free to imagine that his apprentice Damnosus (Latin- Ruinous) gave him a horribly brutal and ignoble death. 
> 
> **Master Baradun [OC]** \- Random compassionate Kel Dor of this particular Council. 
> 
> **Master Grakkchawaa [OC]** \- Random cut-to-the-chase Wookiee Jedi Master of this particular council. 
> 
> **Master Hoglik [OC]** \- Random Bookworm Zabrak who was included for no particular reason.  
> 


End file.
